Christmas Cheer
by kali6
Summary: The holiday spirit around Reed & Reed can sometimes be overwhelming.


**Notes**: Written for Lizardbeth's fandom stocking.

**Disclaimer**: I make no claims on the Fairly Legal character or setting - much as I love 'em, they ain't mine. If they were, Lauren would find Ben under the mistletoe.

* * *

"Leonardo!"

Kate's wail pulled Lauren's attention away from the brief she'd been reviewing. She glanced at her phone, but there were no urgent texts from security – Kate couldn't have broken anything too important. Whatever it was, Leo could manage. She turned back to the Donelley papers.

Twenty minutes later, a knock interrupted her mid-dictation. Rising from her chair, she completed her sentence and clicked off the digital recorder. Before she could make it to the door, though, the knocker rapped again and pushed the door open. Kate's head poked through the gap.

"Is it clear it here?" she asked. Not waiting for an answer, she scooted all the way through the door and darted sideways. Looking slightly manic, her hair more disheveled than usual, Kate crept around the edges of the room.

Lauren took a deep breath before asking the question she so often asked her step-daughter. "Is there something I can help you with, Kate?"

"Can I stay in here today?" Kate asked, finally venturing into the centre of the room so that she could throw herself down on Lauren's client settee.

Lauren blinked. "Well…" She repeated the question in her head. "No. No, Kate, you cannot spend the day in my office. What on earth would make you ask that?"

"Grogan!" Kate moaned.

Lauren smirked to herself. Ever since her partners had started sharing a wall at home as well as at work, their fights had ratcheted up to a new level. Justin, with understandable bitterness, referred to it as foreplay fighting. To Lauren it looked more like two grade-school alphas marking territory on the playground. Whatever it was, it appeared Kate was on the losing end today.

"What did Ben do now?" Lauren asked in her best 'humour the client' voice.

"Mistletoe." Kate's tone made it sound like she was announcing one of the horsemen of the apocalypse. "He had the decorators hang mistletoe."

Lauren squeezed her eyes closed as she took a calming breath in through her nose and let it out through pursed lips. "Where is this mistletoe?" she asked.

"Outside MY office."

"You mean, above the main stairs up to the partner and senior associates' offices?" Lauren smiled faintly. She wondered how many of the firm's members had been caught by Ben's holiday mischief. And if he'd be sharing the recording he was surely making.

"Well, yes. That's where my office is!" Kate's voice was rising again. Time for damage control.

"And did you have to kiss anyone?"

Kate sputtered and waved her hands wildly. "Of course not! I'm savvier than that. You think I'm going to be caught by a little poisonous, parasitic weed masquerading as holiday cheer?"

"Then what's the problem?" Lauren shifted her voice to her most placating tones. "You know where the danger is, you know how to avoid it. Is it the mistletoe that offends you? Or are you just mad that Ben beat you to the punch?"

Kate's glare would have made a lesser woman cower. Lauren just lifted her chin.

"I'll have you know that I am capable of far more subtle and sophisticated tricks than motion-activated singing mistletoe." Kate stood abruptly. "And I can prove it to you. Just watch."

Flipping her hair back defiantly, Kate stalked from the office. Lauren watched her go with a sigh. Thank heavens it was December 23. It had been like an advent calendar of holiday pranks around Reed & Reed for the past month. From musical mistletoe to choirs singing x-rated carols, tinsel bombs in desk drawers to seasonal strippers, the merriment competition had been non-stop. Lauren had considered stepping in after two of the associates were found in the copy room 'making merry' with Santa's friskier elves, but billable hours hadn't slipped so she her partners carry on their mischief.

She was surprised to see Kate cracking first. Yet another sign that she had been right in taking Ben Grogan into the firm. He was a top-notch legal mind but more importantly, he was endlessly competitive. She admired that about him. And it didn't hurt that he had a way of driving Kate up the wall that made Lauren giggle in the privacy of her office.

Right now, she wanted to see the singing mistletoe in action. Maybe she could have Leo send a 'Kate in jeopardy' text to Justin and cause a little mischief of her own.


End file.
